Newsletter for Friday, Jan 23 2015

INSTAGRAM OF THE DAY

TOM WOLF FIRES, RECALLS CORBETT’S PEEPS; THE GOP IS PISSED

Tom Wolf has been in office for a grand total of two days, and he’s doing things differently, as promised. But what he’s doing isn’t what anyone expected — Wolf rescinded more than 20 positions ex-Gov Tom Corbett appointed, booted the new open records officer, canceled judicial nominations and moved to keep the old lieutenant guv from joining Temple’s board. And it’s an interesting political move, since Wolf’s moves have ticked off the head of the state Senate (and he’ll need them to, you know, govern). Quoth Jake Corman, the Republican chief of that body: “The honeymoon is over… He is not off to a flying start, for someone who said he was going to do things differently.”

JUDGE ON THE SRC’S TEACHER CONTRACTS MOVE: NOPE

A panel of judges in Harrisburg unanimously tossed out the School Reform Commission’s October move to rip up contracts with Philly’s teachers union. The huge win for Philly teachers means teachers won’t, in fact, lose 10-13 percent from their pay for health care. But it also means that if the ruling stands, the schools won’t get something like $54 million — and that means (gulp) cuts to an already-devastated system. Philly Mag‘s Patrick Kerkstra has more.

LOUSY SIXERS, PHILLIES COST THE CITY $7M (ANALYSIS)

Think about the Phillies during their recent glory years. They won the World Series in 2008 and followed up the championship with a 257-game sellout streak from 2009 to 2012. Now think about their forgettable games from the 2014 season. The bleachers and trains were half-full, and seats at the bar were easy to snag. Then multiply all that by the 41 times the tanking Sixers have lost so far this season, and you’ve got a legitimate economic problem. How big of a problem? We did the math.

TO DO: GEEK IMPROV THEATER ABOUT SUPER HEROES

BILLY PENN LIKES

UBER PHILLY BY THE NUMBERS

For the first time, Uber publicly shared data about its drivers Thursday in a report compiled by Princeton professor Alan Krueger and Uber’s head of policy research Jonathan Hall. Thanks to them– as well as the Philadelphia Parking Authority, which was more than happy to talk about the thousands of dollars in fines it’s collected from the ridesharing service — we can bring a little more clarity into Philadelphia’s ride sharing scene.